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Make Ricky Romero a Canadian

Somebody get on the phone to the Governor General Michelle Jean and tell her to give Ricky Romero an honourary Canadian citizenship, because he did this this fair nation proud today. Representing Canada's baseball team in the special Canada Day jersey, Ricky Romero pitched his second straight shutout game on the way to a 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

RR Cool Jay was fantastic, but he had some help thanks to a couple of double plays late in the game which kept the Rays off the scoreboard. A pretty incredible feat considering that the Rays have only been shut out two other times this season.

Today's Canada Day jerseys weren't as ugly as I expected them to be. They were certainly better than previous attempts at weaving some sort of Canadiana onto the uniforms. While it would've been perfect to have Scott Richmond pitch on Canada Day, Ricky Romero did a fine job on our country's birthday.

Thanks Ricky ... for doing us proud. As far as I'm concerned, you're as Canadian as SCTV.

11 comments:

RR Cool Jay, hahaha. I'll give you props when I use that in the future, haha.

Aside from that gold, he was, again, amazing this afternoon. I haven't had a chance to take a look at a live game of his yet. From what you've seen... is he for real? Or is it a Scott Richmond in May/June situation here?

Brian, keep an eye on Romero. Outside of Toronto, I don't think lots of people are talking about him but he's been amazing so far. As far as I'm concerned, Ricky is the real deal ... the Jays pitching coach Brad Arnsberg basically begged the team to put Ricky in the rotation, and it's been great ever since.

Scott Richmond has also pitched really well - even though he was charged with the loss yesterday, he only gave up 3 runs.

Both of these guys are here to stay for the rest of the season for sure.

Oh, from a fantasy perspective? Romero's been looked at for a while. He started out like a bat out of hell and made several owners question why they'd been scouting Jesse Litsch and not this kid during the off-season. I know that, personally, Romero's not available in any of the league's I'm participating in this year.

Also, I'm not saying Richmond has been "bad" by any stretch of the imagination. All I'm saying is that he's doing why most young, fresh starters do when they come to the bigs: struggle. In most of Romero's starts he's walked minimal batters and had success striking them out. I'm just hoping he doesn't hit any Richmond-esque bumps in the road (no matter how big or small).

Brian, the thing about Richmond and Romero is that they have benefited from having the best defensive team in the majors. Both of them have been bailed out by some great defense ... but that's not to say Richmond and Romero haven't been great, because they have been. I have to admit that I doubted Romero would last very long in the rotation, and now I am officially eating my words.

Aquamelli, I guess that's the good/bad thing about these games leading up to the All-Star break - they're all against teams in the AL East. Hopefully the Rangers/Rays can beat eachother up over the weekend so the Jays can take advantage next week.

Torgen, now I remember ... it was Jack Cust who said it earlier this year:

"He's got a bright future," Cust said. "He reminds me of Santana a little bit, his body and his mannerisms, the way he throws. Santana's got those broad shoulders like he's got. He's similar, he's got a similar arm slot, similar delivery. He's going to be good."

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About the Blue Jay Hunter

The Blue Jay Hunter is a blog about the Toronto Blue Jays, which takes a look at the team under the microscope. Mixed in with just a hint of humour, and a shred of dignity. I also have an affinity for baseball moustaches.